Teaching beyond the textbook: Craig Bishop receives Teaching Excellence Award

By Michelle Loria Alvarado, Lydia Chapman

Executive Editor, Senior Reporter

For Craig Bishop, success in law enforcement is often measured by a target. In firearms training, he tells his students that hitting the mark 70% of the time is the minimum standard for passing.

But for Bishop, that is not enough.

“That’s three bullets that are not on target. Where did those three bullets go?” he said. “Excellence is hitting the mark 100% of the time and doing it well.”

That same pursuit of perfection earned Bishop, professor and director of the criminal justice program, the university’s 2025-26 Teaching Excellence Award. The honor was announced March 5 during chapel.

The Conference of Chairpersons, composed of academic deans and department chairs, has presented the award annually since 1982 to recognize excellence in the classroom. The award may be given to a professor only once.

For Bishop, the path to the classroom was a “natural progression” from a career on the front lines of the justice system. After college, he served as a probation and parole officer in Florida and later worked in law enforcement. Throughout his career, leaders frequently asked him to step in as a trainer and mentor.

“Everything I do, I’m going to be trying to help someone else do even better, just like those psychologists helped me,” he said.

He began teaching in higher education in 2003. Since arriving at Trevecca in the summer of 2020, Bishop has overseen a restructuring of the department, transitioning from a sociology major to a dedicated criminal justice studies major. Under his leadership, the program has grown from five students to about 55.

Junior William Mattes, a psychology and criminal justice double major, said Bishop’s warmth was evident from their first meeting during a campus visit.

“It was nothing but kindness and warmth,” Mattes said. “Walking into his class felt like I already knew him, and I felt welcome.”

In the classroom, Bishop focuses on engagement rather than lecturing. He uses simulations and real-world case studies to make course material feel relevant.

“He doesn’t want to just spew information for an hour,” Mattes said. “He wants us to engage with it.”

While students see a confident mentor, Bishop’s wife of nearly 41 years, Joan Bishop, said his success comes from overcoming personal hurdles. Bishop often tells students he struggled academically in high school. Joan said he also lives with a hearing impairment that can make him feel insecure at times.

“I was so proud of him for overcoming the obstacles and going for it,” she said.

Bishop said he was stunned when he heard his name called during chapel. He initially tried to guess the recipient based on the provost’s description but realized it was him when Illinois State University and a Blues Brothers reference were mentioned.

For Bishop, the award is a sign that his students feel seen.

“If they saw that I see them and that I love them and I care, then I’m honored,” Bishop said.

Mattes said the recognition is well deserved for a professor who invests deeply in his students.

“He is perhaps the warmest, kindest, most inviting professor at the university,” Mattes said. “It’s no surprise he won.”